Which Galaxy S9 color should I buy: Black, purple, blue, gray or gold?
The last decision you make before you buy.
The Galaxy S9 and S9+ have very subtle design differences compared to the Galaxy S8 and S8+, but one clear way to recognize them at a glance are their new colors. Midnight Black, Lilac Purple, Coral Blue, Titanium Gray and Sunrise Gold are the color options, and aside from black they’re all fresh hues we haven’t seen before.
Here’s a good look at all five colors, and some information on what you can expect from each one so you can make an informed decision when you go to order.
Galaxy S9 in Midnight Black
Samsung’s been doing Midnight Black phones for a few years now, and the Galaxy S9’s version is no different. This is a solid black color with no real extra shine or glimmer to it. The metal frame is now more of a gray color on account of its texturing, which differs from the high-gloss black finish on the Galaxy S8. It’s very similar to the black Galaxy S7, in fact.
Who is it for?
If you want to play it safe, go for the Midnight Black color. It hides scratches better than the other lighter colors, and you won’t be attracting any unwanted attention to your phone. If you plan on just putting a case on your phone anyway, black is probably the easiest color to re-sell later on when you’re done with the phone.
See at Amazon
Galaxy S9 in Lilac Purple
Lilac Purple is a brand new color for Samsung, and it kind of picks up where Orchid Gray left off in the Galaxy S8. It’s far more reflective and has a deeper color to it that’s more susceptible to changing its look in various lighting conditions, which means it will range from a deep purple (in dark lighting) to almost a grayish pink color (in bright light). The metal frame is a dull purple or pink, depending on the light. Of all four colors, Lilac Purple stands out the most — partially because there just aren’t many purple phones out there, but also on account of its reflectivity and pink accents.
See at Amazon
Who is it for?
If you’re looking for a stand-out phone that’ll get noticed and never be confused for anyone else’s at the dinner table, Lilac Purple is the color for you. It’s a good bet that even among Galaxy S9 and S9+ owners that Lilac Purple will be the lowest-selling variety, so you have the best shot at staying unique for a while when you choose it.
Galaxy S9 in Coral Blue
Having a name like Coral Blue is a bit of a misnomer — this isn’t anything like Samsung’s previous blues, but more of a powder blue instead. I’d consider it a gray-based phone with some blue to it when you get it in bright lighting. When it’s in darker areas, you can’t tell it apart from the Titanium Gray model. The metal frame is a little bit of a giveaway with its soft blue shade, but even then it still doesn’t substantially stand out. It still has some of that reflectivity that Lilac Purple does, and that’s really the only time that it shows off a lot of its blue tendencies.
Who is it for?
Coral Blue is a great balance between the simple Midnight Black and the overtly bright Lilac Purple. Most of the time it’s quite simple and sleek looking, but in the right light it can show off its reflections and look far more blue. Coral Blue is a handsome, sophisticated color that you can’t go wrong with.
See at Amazon
Galaxy S9 in Titanium Gray
Titanium Gray is a simple color, without much of the color-shifting tendencies seen in Lilac Purple and Coral Blue. It’s just gray, and when you get it in brighter or darker lighting, it just looks a bit closer to white and a bit closer to black. In the right lighting, it’ll look identical to Coral Blue. The metal frame is just a pure gray that looks like the most natural metal color, giving it more of an industrial look than the other three.
Who is it for?
Titanium Gray won’t be available in the U.S., so strike it off of your list if you’re buying it there. But if you have the choice, give it a look if you don’t want Midnight Black but aren’t interested in the shimmering color-changing feature of Lilac Purple or Coral Blue. Gray will always be gray no matter what, and if that sounds like a safe bet then you should go for it.
Galaxy S9 in Sunrise Gold
A few months after launch, Samsung rolled out a new color to the U.S.: Sunrise Gold. This is hardly Samsung’s first gold-colored phone, but the company is making it clear that this is different from the golds of the past. Samsung’s goal with Sunrise Gold was to give it more of a matte sheen around the entire phone, glass included, whereas the other colors still rely on a high gloss shine for their glass back.
Who is it for?
Well, Sunrise Gold is for someone who wants a classy phone and likes the idea of having something slightly more exclusive. The Sunrise Gold color option is available for both the Galaxy S9 and S9+, but it’s only available from Best Buy and Samsung.com. Pair that limited retail availability with the fact that it launched months later, and you just won’t see that many Sunrise Gold Galaxy S9s around — you’ll be unique.
See at Best Buy
See at Samsung
Regional differences matter (a little less this time)
As ever, not all regions are getting the same colors of the Galaxy S9 and S9+. In the U.S., we have access to three colors: black, purple and blue. As far as individual U.S. carriers go, most are offering all three colors of both sizes of the phone — but depending on which store you go to or whether you order online, stock may be limited.
Unfortunately, Titanium Gray is only for international markets. Around the world, you can expect two or three colors offered depending on the individual country (and carrier) you’re buying in. And of course this can change over time as exclusivity deals run out and new ones are made — and there’s a good chance Samsung will end up changing its color strategy over the course of the year.
Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+
- Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!
- Galaxy S9 review: A great phone for the masses
- Complete Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs
- Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?
- Join our Galaxy S9 forums
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These are all the phones Sony is launching in 2018
Here’s a look at Sony’s smartphone lineup for 2018.
Sony has an…interesting…position in the Android smartphone space. Sony produced some darn good phones in 2017, such as the Xperia XZ Premium and XZ1, but when compared to handsets like the Galaxy S8, Pixel 2, and even the OnePlus 5T, Sony’s offerings fell flat in one area or another.
We’ve seen Sony’s hand for 2018, and while this year’s phones still won’t keep everyone from jumping on the Samsung and Google bandwagons, they are compelling handsets that are at least worth checking out.
The phones that are still coming
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium
The upcoming Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium.
In mid-April, Sony announced the Xperia XZ2 Premium. This is a bigger, badder, more expensive version of the regular XZ2 that’s already been released, and while there’s no denying its power, it’s going to set you back a very pretty penny.
One of the main draws to the XZ2 Premium is its 5.8-inch 4K HDR display. That’s the same resolution found on most premium TVs these days, and Sony says it’s 30% brighter than the previous Xperia XZ Premium.
You’ll also find dual 19MP + 12MP rear cameras, the Snapdragon 845, 6GB RAM, and a 3,540 mAh battery.
The Xperia XZ2 Premium costs $999.99, and pre-orders open on July 9 at Amazon and Best Buy with shipments expected to start going out on July 30. Buying the phone from Amazon will let you get a free pair of Sony’s Xperia Ear Duo earbuds that retail for $280, but even then, only die-hard Sony fans will likely give any serioius thought to the phone with a price that big.
Sony announces Xperia XZ2 Premium with 5.8-inch 4K HDR display, dual cameras, spec bumps
Sony Xperia R2/R2 Plus
Sony Xperia R1 and R1 Plus.
Last October saw the release of the Xperia R1 and R1 Plus — two budget phones that offered rock-solid specs at seriously affordable price points.
The rumor mill on successors to these two phones is pretty quiet at the moment, but there’s no reason to believe Sony won’t kick out an R2 and R2 Plus before 2018 is over.
India was the target market for the R1 series, and assuming the we get an R2, that’ll likely remain the same.
Mid-range Sony Xperia R1 and R1 Plus now available in India
The phones that have already been released
Sony Xperia XZ2
Sony’s big flagship this year is the Xperia XZ2. The XZ2 is a successor to last year’s XZ1 and features a completely new design language compared to other Xperia phones of the last few years. The glass back is super reflective with elegant curves, the fingerprint sensor is smack dab in the middle below the rear camera, and there’s an 18:9 screen with slim bezels.
Under the hood, the XZ2 is packing all of the latest specs — including the Snapdragon 845, 4GB RAM, 19MP/5MP rear/front cameras, IP68 dust/water resistance, and Android 8.0 Oreo. The phone costs $800 and is on sale now.
Sony Xperia XZ2 preview: Slimmer bezels, wider appeal
Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact
There’s no denying that the XZ2 is a powerful phone, but what if you want all that horsepower in a phone that’s considerably smaller and a bit cheaper? For you, Sony’s got the Xperia XZ2 Compact.
The XZ2 Compact is mostly the same phone as the regular XZ2, save for a smaller battery, 5-inch screen, and a plastic back. Everything else, such as processor and cameras, are exactly the same.
It’s not necessarily cheap at $649, but it’s one of the few truly small phones that offers a no-compromises flagship experience.
Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact review: The new standard for small
Sony Xperia XA2/XA2 Ultra
During this past CES, Sony officially took the wraps off of the Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra. Both phones are mid-rangers in Sony’s lineup for the year, and while there’s nothing particularly exciting about them, they do the basics really, really well while keeping costs low.
The XA2 offers a refreshingly small 5.2-inch display, and for those of you that prefer big phones, the XA2 Ultra should serve you just fne with a 6-inch screen size. Both come equipped with an LCD panel and resolution of 1920 x 1080, and for the first time ever, these two Sony phones have working fingerprint sensors in the United States 👏.
Each phone also shares NFC, Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box, USB-C for charging, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Aside from the screen size, the only other big difference lies with the XA2’s 3,300 mAh battery and the XA2 Ultra’s 3,580 mAh unit.
The XA2 sells for a fair $349, and stepping up to the XA2 Ultra will cost you $449.
See at Best Buy
Sony Xperia L2
If you like what the XA2 and XA2 Ultra bring to the table but want to spend even less, Sony’s Xperia L2 is for you.
The Xperia L2 has a 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720, MediaTek processor, 3GB of RAM, and a 3,300 mAh battery. As for the cameras, you’ll find a 13MP sensor on the back and an 8MP one up front.
There’s a working fingerprint sensor on the L2 and support for NFC just like on the XA2 and XA2 Ultra, but unlike those phones, the L2 ships with the older Android 7.1.1 Nougat.
You can buy the Xperia L2 in black, gold, and pink, and its price of $250 is more than manageable.
See at Best Buy
Updated June 27, 2018: Added availability and pricing information for the Xperia XZ2 Premium.
Pokémon Quest for Android: Everything you need to know
A new Pokémon adventure has arrived!
Update June 27, 2018: Pokémon Quest has launched on Android
The wait is over — Pokémon Quest has officially launched on Android! Download it and start catching them all!
Set in a world where all your favorite Pokémon from Kanto region (think Pokémon Blue and Red) have turned to cubes on Tumblecube Island. You’re tasked with befriending these Pokémon and exploring the island to discover hidden secrets scattered multiple areas.
Download: Pokémon Quest (Free w/IAPs)
What’s there to do in this game?
This is not the “traditional” Pokémon RPG that you remember from your childhood. While you do start out by selecting your first Pokémon from a familiar roster of starters — Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, or Eevee. Each starter has a unique attack and HP stat, but unlike previous games, your Pokémon’s type won’t have a special effect based on the traditional type strengths and weaknesses.
Once you start out, you’ll begin exploring the different areas and each starter Pokémon has an early stage area that’s designed to be a bit easier for them to ease you into the game. From there, the core mechanics of this game revolve around befriending new Pokémon, adding and upgrading them to your team, then taking your team out on expeditions to find loot and battle wild Pokémon. Each area’s difficulty level is represented by a number which you’ll compare to your team’s power level to determine your chance of success.
#PokemonQuest allows Trainers of all ages to get in on the action! In this free-to-start game, you can face off against wild Pokémon and embark on many exciting expeditions. pic.twitter.com/CZ57iGKWMX
— Pokémon (@Pokemon) May 30, 2018
Once you’re out exploring, your Pokémon engage in battles automatically. It’s nothing like the battling found in the other Pokémon RPG’s you’ve played, as you have had limited control over your Pokémon. You are able to tap their special abilities to give your team the edge in even battles, but there’s a cooldown timer so you can’t just frantically tap your way to victory.
Another core element of the game is the ability to cook meals using different ingredients you’ll collect as you play. The meals you cook are unique and will attract different types of Pokémon, so an important aspect of the game will be experimenting at your cooking pot by trying out different recipes and seeing what Pokémon they attract. A good portion of your time playing Pokémon Quest will be spent cooking and upgrading your campsite with fun decorations.
It’s a free-to-play adventure
As you might expect, Pokémon Quest will be free-to-play on mobile with in-app purchases likely available to buy more PM tickets, the in-game currency which you can spend on upgrades that cut down on cook time for your recipes along with other upgrades available from the shop. Unlike other games that are quite restrictive with its implementation of in-app purchases, Pokémon Quest seems to have found a nice balance where in-app purchases can be used to speed up your progress but are not requried to keep progressing.
Will it run on my phone?
The system requirements for Pokémonn Quest are pretty basic, only requiring a phone running Android OS 4.4 or newer and 2GB of RAM meaning this game should work on practically any Android phone released in the past three years with no issues.
Download: Pokémon Quest (Free w/IAPs)
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Samsung to Launch New Galaxy Note 9 a Month Before Apple is Expected to Unveil New 2018 iPhones
Samsung this morning sent out press invites for an Unpacked event that is set to take place on Thursday, August 9, where it is expected to unveil the next-generation Galaxy Note device, the Galaxy Note 9.
The media invitation Samsung sent out, which was shared by Business Insider, appears to feature the button of the S Pen of the Galaxy Note, the accessory that Samsung sells with its Galaxy Note devices.
Samsung typically hosts two major smartphone events per year because it launches the Galaxy Note line and the Galaxy S9 line at different times. The Galaxy S9, for example, launched in February, while the Galaxy Note 8, the predecessor to the rumored Note 9, came out last August.
Splitting its smartphone launch dates allows Samsung to better compete with Apple by unveiling new technology before and after iPhone launches.
The Galaxy Note 9 launch will come just a month ahead of when Apple is expected to unveil its 2018 iPhones, which are rumored to include a second-generation 5.8-inch OLED iPhone, a larger 6.5-inch OLED iPhone that can be thought of as a sort of “iPhone X Plus,” and a 6.1-inch LCD iPhone that will be more affordably priced.
Samsung will then follow the 2018 iPhones with new Galaxy S10 devices in February of 2019, if it sticks to its typical smartphone release habits.
Like the Galaxy Note 8, the Galaxy Note 9 is likely to continue to offer an edge-to-edge AMOLED display with edge panel and S Pen support, along with dual cameras and a rear fingerprint sensor.
Rumors suggest the Galaxy Note 9 will not feature a notch, and that it could have slightly smaller top and bottom bezels than the Note 8, resulting in a 2mm smaller chassis. It is also expected to feature S Pen improvements, and while early rumors pointed towards an in-display fingerprint sensor, it’s not believed Samsung is going to go this route.
Galaxy Note 9 renders via OnLeaks
It was Samsung’s Galaxy Note line that was subject to intense scrutiny after 2016’s Galaxy Note 7 was impacted by faulty batteries that caused fires and injuries to multiple people. Samsung eventually had to recall all Galaxy Note 7 devices, which were also banned by airlines.
Samsung decided to continue on with the Note line through 2017’s Galaxy Note 8, which suffered from no major problems.
Tag: Samsung
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Apple’s Headphone Jack Adapter Remains a Top Seller at Best Buy
Back in September 2016, controversy erupted when Apple released the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus without a headphone jack. Now, users must plug wired headphones into the Lightning connector using an adapter, included in the box with each device, and sold separately for $9 in the United States.
The adapter is also available at resellers such as Best Buy, where nearly two years later, it remains a top seller. In fact, the adapter is Best Buy’s second-best selling Apple product in terms of unit sales, behind only AirPods, according to Joshua Fruhlinger, publisher of data-driven site Thinknum:
The above chart shows the Lightning-to-3.5mm Headphone Adapter’s sales rank at Best Buy for the past couple years. A lower sales rank, of course, is better. As you can see, the adapter has been a top-25 seller for the better part of the past year.
Apple is likely not making a ton off of the little dongles, but the fact remains that it’s the company’s second-best-selling product at America’s number-one electronics retailer, ahead of its EarPods and Apple Watch.
MacRumors reached out to Fruhlinger to verify the data, obtained using Best Buy’s developer APIs, and we did see that the headphone jack adapter has consistently ranked as the best selling Apple product behind AirPods, with a few days here and there as exceptions, for well over a year.
In fact, since the adapter was released a few years ago, its sales ranking among all products sold by Best Buy has generally increased:
- Dec 15, 2016: 261st
- Mar 15, 2017: 77th
- Jun 15, 2017: 33rd
- Sep 15, 2017: 30th
- Dec 15, 2017: 53rd
- Mar 15, 2018: 18th
- Jun 15, 2018: 19th
The data is particularly interesting given that Apple already includes its headphone jack adapter in the box with its latest iPhones, so every customer that needs one should already have one. So, what is driving all of the sales?
Fruhlinger offered up a pretty reasonable explanation: people keep losing the adapter, thereby having to buy a new one:
I almost died of laughter at the gym last year. I was plodding away on a treadmill listening to Bill Burr complain about his new iPhone. To be more precise, he was ranting about his new iPhone’s lack of a headphone jack and how he kept losing those Lightning-to-3.5mm headphone adapters…
The story cut too close to home. As a wired headphone holdout (I refuse to charge my headphones, and I love my Klipsches), I’ve gone through several headphones adapters myself.
Of course, some customers may simply want more than one headphone jack adapter for use in the car, at work, and so forth.
Overall, the data suggests wired headphones remain popular, but remember that AirPods are the one Apple product outselling the adapter at Best Buy, so many customers are also embracing wireless.
Apple has said it is pushing towards a “truly wireless future,” as evidenced by the removal of the headphone jack, and its other products and technologies, ranging from AirPods and AirPower to its W1 and W2 wireless chips. The headphone jack adapter has always been a stopgap amid that transition.
In fact, earlier this year, analysts at Barclays predicted that Apple won’t include the adapter in the box with the trio of iPhones rumored to launch this September. Even if that turns out to be false, the adapter certainly won’t be around forever. But, for now, it clearly remains quite popular.
Tag: headphone jack
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Snapchat Planning to Launch ‘Internal App Store’ for Games This Fall
Snapchat is looking to build its own “internal app store” of gaming titles, according to a new report out today from The Information.
The platform is set for a tentative launch sometime this fall, and will allow outside developers to build games that Snapchat then distributes for users to play within the Snapchat app.
People familiar with the company’s plans claim that Snapchat has already lined up one gaming publisher to make a new game for Snapchat’s app store.
Unless every game is completely free, it’s unclear how the company plans to succeed when Apple has strict App Store guidelines that prevent companies from selling apps, games, and other content in their apps that aren’t designated in-app purchases.
The company is preparing to launch a platform this fall that will let outside developers create games to be played through the Snapchat app, according to two people familiar with the matter.
It is relying on outside developers to build the games that could be downloaded in an internal app-store of titles. The gaming platform has been in the works for at least a year as the company has worked on the platform’s technology, according to a person familiar with the effort.
Recently, Valve had trouble with Apple’s policies in this regard, after trying to get its Steam Link app on the App Store, which would have let users purchase games within the app. After Apple rejected the app, Valve removed game purchasing as an option from Steam Link and has resubmitted it for approval to Apple. Now, when users see a game in the app Valve points them toward a Mac or PC as places to make their purchases.
For Snapchat, the deeper foray into gaming is believed to be an attempt to further distance itself from rival Instagram, which has copied a few of its features over the years and eventually became more successful than Snapchat in regards to the 24-hour “stories” feature. However, one source reportedly suggested that the gaming platform is still “more experimental” at this point than a central business effort by the company.
Earlier this year, the company expressed interest in gaming on a small scale with the launch of “Snappables,” Snapchat Lenses that are interactive and let users play AR games with friends. Many social-focused apps have tried out gaming experiences in the past, including Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Apple’s own iMessage through the launch of the Messages App Store in iOS 10.
Tag: Snapchat
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Disney’s Acquisition of Fox Approved, but Must Sell Off 22 Regional Fox Sports Networks
After months of scrutiny in an ongoing antitrust case, the United States Department of Justice today granted The Walt Disney Company approval to acquire 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets for $71.3 billion, on one new condition: Disney must divest 22 regional sports networks owned by Fox to an “acceptable” buyer. Removing these networks from the acquisition “would resolve the competitive harm” that has been previously raised in the antitrust lawsuit, the Department said.
If Disney did acquire Fox and the 22 regional sports networks, the original complaint argued that the proposed acquisition would “likely result” in multichannel video programming distributors paying higher prices for cable sports programming in the designated markets. This would also inflate television subscription prices in the process, the Department pointed out.
Now, Disney has agreed to sell the 22 networks to a buyer that the Justice Department deems “acceptable,” rather than continue the ongoing merger investigation. After the acquisition closes, Disney will have 90 days in which to sell all of the designated networks to the buyer, otherwise the court will appoint a trustee to force the sale.
This will ensure a competitive market remains in place in each region, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim explained.
“American consumers have benefitted from head-to-head competition between Disney and Fox’s cable sports programming that ultimately has prevented cable television subscription prices from rising even higher,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Today’s settlement will ensure that sports programming competition is preserved in the local markets where Disney and Fox compete for cable and satellite distribution.”
The specific regional sports networks in question include the following:
(i) Fox Sports Arizona, (ii) Fox Sports Carolinas, (iii) Fox Sports Detroit, (iv) Fox Sports Florida, (v) Fox Sports Indiana, (vi) Fox Sports Kansas City, (vii) Fox Sports Midwest, (viii) Fox Sports New Orleans, (ix) Fox Sports North, (x) Fox Sports Ohio, (xi) SportsTime Ohio, (xii) Fox Sports Oklahoma, (xiii) Fox Sports San Diego, (xiv) Fox Sports South, (xv) Fox Sports Southeast, (xvi) Fox Sports Southwest, (xvii) Fox Sports Sun, (xviii) Fox Sports Tennessee, (xix) Fox Sports West, (xx) Prime Ticket, (xxi) Fox Sports Wisconsin, and (xxii) the YES Network.
Disney is now believed to have surpassed the last major hurdle in the deal and should be nearing the end of the acquisition process, although regulatory approvals from other countries are still required. Competitive offers could also still appear, potentially from Comcast, although Fox has remained vocal about its preference for Disney to win its entertainment assets.
As outlined in the original announcement last December, these assets include Twentieth Century Fox Film and Television Studios and Fox-related cable and international TV businesses. Movie assets that would become Disney-owned include Avatar, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool, and TV shows include The Simpsons, This Is Us, and The Americans. Disney would also get Fox’s 30 percent stake in Hulu and become a majority owner of the streaming service.
Tags: Disney, Fox
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BlackBerry KEY2 hands-on: It’s all about speed
Hey! You! We’ve published our full BlackBerry Key2 review, so head to this article to see what we really think of this new BlackBerry phone.
BlackBerry’s renaissance launched with aplomb last year with the BlackBerry KEYone. A year on, and two new variants later, including the first dual SIM BlackBerry ever, the company is back with its new keyboard-toting phone, the BlackBerry KEY2. It’s got an updated design, a new special key, and the first ever dual camera on a BlackBerry, but should this be your new phone? Let’s take a look!
The KEYone inspired nostalgia amongst BlackBerry users everywhere, with a design reminiscent of iconic devices such as the BlackBerry Bold 9000. The BlackBerry KEY2 brings a few tweaks based on feedback from users, partners, and customers, and builds on this with an emphasis on a better overall typing experience. The curves of the KEYone have been replaced by a flatter design with straighter edges, and the device is one millimeter thinner as well as 12 grams lighter. The result is a much better in-hand experience more conducive to one-handed typing. The keys have also moved to the righthand side of the KEY2 — with the power button gaining a textured finish — to provide a more seamless experience and look.
The KEY2’s typing experience is where it really shines thanks to 20% larger keys
The KEY2’s typing experience is where it really shines. The keys are now 20 percent larger and there’s more room for them, now that the glass display stretches all the way to the top of the phone. Personally, I found the KEYone keyboard to be a little cramped, but the KEY2 is more comfortable to use. Like the KEYone, there’s the fingerprint sensor in the space bar, and it works well whether the phone is flat on a table or in your hand.
The big addition to the keyboard is the new speed key. One of the best parts of the BlackBerry experience is the ability to program a key to quickly launch apps, shortcuts, or other features directly from your homescreen when you tap or long press it. On the KEYone, you had to go back to the homescreen to use it, but you no longer have to with BlackBerry KEY2 — pressing the speed key and activating your shortcut will work regardless of which app you are in. The larger keys provide excellent tactile feedback and the keyboard still comes with all the swipe gestures and functionality we’ve come to expect from BlackBerry’s physical keyboards.
The speed key isn’t the only new feature on the KEY2, it also features the company’s first dual camera offering. The back has two 12MP sensors, with the main sensor offering f/1.8 aperture and 1.28μm pixel size. The second sensor has a 12MP resolution with an f/2.6 aperture, 1µ pixel size, and a telephoto lens offering 2X zoom. The BlackBerry KEY2 uses both lenses to offer a portrait mode because it’s 2018 and every camera offers this feature. The front camera has an 8MP sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and 1.12μm pixel size.
Neither rear camera offers optical image stabilization and portrait mode is limited to just the rear cameras, but it’s an improvement over previous BlackBerry devices nonetheless. While the hardware is new, the real story is the software, which BlackBerry said it heavily refined to capture much better pictures. We’ll have to wait for the full review to confirm this, but the early signs are promising.
The BlackBerry KEY2 runs Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box, and BlackBerry confirmed the device will get an update to Android P, although it wouldn’t say past that. The software experience is largely what we’ve come to expect from BlackBerry, and its best-in-class DTEK security suite now features an updated UI. A couple of interesting additions to DTEK include the ability to see whether apps are running in the background or foreground, which is particularly useful for finding apps you’ve never opened that consistently run in the background and turning them off.
DTEK has also gained new sensitive permissions, which will help alleviate any security concerns users may have. Out of the box, the microphone and camera are set as sensitive permissions. When an app is trying to use either of these, you’ll get a notification and will have to explicitly grant it access. This could stop rogue apps and also provide you with an understanding of which apps use these features. If the phone app asks for permission to use the microphone, you’ll obviously want to grant it. If the calculator asks to use your microphone, you might want to think twice.
The other big addition to the software experience is a new Private Locker feature, which creates a private area on your phone. While other Android phones also offer this feature, BlackBerry’s integration is a little different. Inside the locker you can add apps, photos, files, documents and more. Photos added to the locker don’t appear in the regular gallery and won’t back up to the cloud.
The Private locker lets you hide apps from your homescreen or app drawer, which is great for hiding your banking apps
Even more interesting, the Private locker lets you hide apps in the locker from your homescreen or app drawer. This is particularly useful for hiding sensitive items like banking apps, and the only way to launch them is to either access via the locker or using keyboard shortcuts. Everything in the Private Locker is only accessible via your fingerprint, password, or pin. Even when you launch an app in the locker using a keyboard shortcut, you’ll need to authenticate before opening it.
Those changes aside, the rest of the BlackBerry KEY2 experience is similar to the KEYone, with a few hardware updates. The KEY2 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor and comes with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage standard. The first version of the KEYone — which only had 3GB of RAM — was a little sluggish in every day use. 6GB of RAM will go a long way to prevent any performance issues this time around. Versions with up to 128GB of storage and dual SIM functionality will be available in select non-U.S. markets, but the KEY2 will only come in the 6GB and 64GB variant stateside.
The display is the same 4.5-inch Full HD LCD panel with 3:2 aspect ratio as the KEYone, though the glass extending to the top of the phone makes it feel a little more immersive. There’s a USB Type-C port, as well as a headphone jack (which Blackberry said it has no plans to drop anytime soon). There’s also dual speakers, improvements in the antenna positioning, LTE Cat 9 offering 300Mbps download speeds, and Gorilla Glass 3 protection over the display.
The 3,500mAh battery unit supports Quick Charge 3.0 and should last about two days, according to the company. To improve your battery experience, the new Power Center app lets you see how much battery individual apps are using, and whether any apps are slowing your device down. The app gives you recommendations on improving battery life.
BlackBerry is also using machine learning to help you manage your battery life. The Power Center application will learn your charging habits and use this data to predict whether you’ll run out of battery. If you always charge around 11 p.m., the phone will learn this. If you’ve been using the phone heavily in the morning, it’ll try and work out if you’re likely to make it to your charging window without running out of juice. Instead of having to wait to hit the five percent low battery warning, it’ll prompt you hours in advance so you have time to find an outlet and top the battery up.
Instead of having to wait to hit the low battery warning, it’ll prompt you hours in advance so you have time to find an outlet and top the battery up.
The BlackBerry KEY2 will launch by the end of June in the U.S. and other select markets like Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, and China. It’ll then roll out to other markets starting in July. It’ll cost $649 in the U.S., with pricing in other markets to be confirmed later.
The BlackBerry KEY2 brings a host of tweaks to improve the overall experience, but the updated keyboard is its biggest change. The larger keys make for a much better typing experience and will be a welcome change for anyone who had issues with the small keys of the original KEYone.
What do you think of the BlackBerry KEY2 and do you plan to buy one? Check out the rest of our BlackBerry KEY2 coverage below and let us know your views in the comments below!
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Qualcomm’s newest smartwatch chips are made just for kids
Karlis Dambrans/Flickr
Android-based smartwatches may not be the fastest growing industry in the world, but Qualcomm reckons there’s still legs on that crowd. That’s why Qualcomm’s first new smartwatch chip in two years is geared toward a very specific market: Smartwatches for children, which run a custom Android interface.
The new chip, the Snapdragon Wear 2500, promises to be more battery efficient than previous chips, supports LTE, location tracking, and cameras up to 5-megapixels, as well as a bunch of other sensors. According to an interview, the Wear 2500 will also be about a third smaller than previous chips too — size being exceptionally important in a child’s watch.
The Verge
Interestingly, the chips are not made to work with Google’s Wear OS — instead, they’ll be running a customized Android interface called Android for Kids that probably won’t have access to the usual array of Android apps. Instead, Qualcomm will preload the watches with all the apps that they expect will be needed by kids (and the adults who supervise them). There’s an emphasis on learning too, and Pankaj Kedia, leader of Qualcomm’s wearable department, intends these watches to complement the more connected lives that children lead today.
“It’s like you grew up on Alexa and you want to take Alexa with you,” Kedia said to The Verge. “You want to ask Alexa ‘what’s the capital of the U.S.’ or ‘who is the 35th president of the U.S.?’ or learn a different language, and voice assistants are making it easy for you to do that. Literally, kids in that bracket are using kid watches to learn.” These watches will presumably facilitate that need, and help parents to keep an eye on their kids at the same time.
The smartwatch market is still a fairly volatile place, and while Apple reigns supreme at the top of the charts with the Apple Watch Series 3, 2017 saw a lot of well-established names drop out of the race in favor of new kids on the block. So while the overall market for wearables continues to grow, it’s new directions and manufacturers that are being rewarded for their hard work. With this in mind, it’s not hard to see why Qualcomm chose to go this way.
Interested this new breed of smartwatch? Qualcomm is already sending the chips out to manufacturers, and expect to see watches with it come out later this year, with Huawei being named as one of the companies involved.
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‘Can I book a table for Thursday?’ Google Duplex duped me, but I didn’t mind
While working the front desk of a New York City Thai restaurant, I picked up the phone, took down a reservation, and hung up. Surreal was the first word that came to mind afterward, not because I was pretending to work at a restaurant, but that I just spoke to and booked a table from the artificially intelligent Google Assistant.
I couldn’t shake the thought that the voice on the other end wasn’t a living being, even if it was only a two-minute conversation. That’s not to say the Assistant wasn’t convincing; if it didn’t tell me (and if I wasn’t in a demo environment), I wouldn’t have thought much about the exchange with what sounded like another human on the other end.
The robot exhange I had was part of a press demonstration Google held for its Duplex technology, first announced at the company’s I/O developer conference in May. It lets people book a table at a restaurant, schedule a haircut appointment, and find out store hours through Google Assistant. The voice assistant will call the restaurant or store — after you make a request from your phone or Assistant-enabled smart speaker, like a Google Home — and minutes later you’ll get a notification confirming your plans are officially booked (or if the call couldn’t be completed).
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
The demo at I/O was jaw-dropping, but wasn’t without controversy. Concerns were raised: Why did the AI needed to sound so lifelike and why didn’t it announce a disclaimer to the human caller, amounting to what some considered to be deception. And because the call was recorded, some questioned if the technology would violate certain laws governing phone calls.
Since that time Google has clarified its position, and we now have some answers. Digital Trends spent some time with the team behind Duplex and demoed the technology for ourselves. But before we dive into our experience, let’s take a look at the new details we’ve unconvered on how and where Duplex will work.
What is Duplex, and where will it work?
Duplex is a technology in development that enables Google Assistant to make phone calls on the user’s behalf, and it stems from years of research and work into artificial intelligence for natural language processing.
“We can now understand natural speech and we can generate natural speech,” Nick Fox, vice president of Product Management at Google, said. “Those technologies are applied with Duplex to have a natural, engaging conversation that adapts to what’s happening within the conversation, ultimately with the goal of getting things done.”
Google Duplex scheduling a hair appointment Google
Helping you get things done is Google’s goal for Assistant, and with Duplex the company is starting with three specific tasks: Booking a table at a restaurant, finding store hours, and scheduling a hair salon appointment. Duplex cannot do anything more than this at the moment, so if a query isn’t pertinent (say, asking about the weather or sports scores) Assistant won’t understand. Similarly, a user cannot ask Assistant to make calls unrelated to the aforementioned tasks.
It has the potential to save a lot of time for employees stuck answering calls about store hours.
For the user, having the Assistant make these calls frees up a little time, but it also benefits businesses that receive these calls. For example, if a caller asks Assistant for the holiday hours of a local store, the Assistant will place the call, get the answer, and the hours will be added to Google Maps and Google Search for all to see, with a verified tag next to it.
With this info, if other callers want to know the same info, Assistant would only need to pull it from Google’s servers, and not make another call. It only takes one person to ask Assistant, but has the potential to save a lot of time for employees who would be stuck answering calls about store hours otherwise.
During Google’s testing phase this summer, Duplex will only work with select businesses and users in the U.S., and it will only be available at restaurants and hair salons that do not have an online booking system. Google Assistant already works with OpenTable, so it doesn’t need to call restaurants that use the booking service.
Google will test calls for business hours first in the next few weeks, and later this summer, the test will expand to calling for reservations and haircut appointments. There will be a lot of testing and tweaking during this period, so the end result of Duplex may look a little different from what we’ve already seen. Businesses will be able to opt out if they do not want to receive calls from the Google Assistant.
Google
“What you’re seeing is a technology that’s very early stages,” Fox said. “We want to talk about it publicly even at this stage to make sure we get it right, but you’re seeing something quite early in the process here.”
The demo
The demo experience, which took place at Thep Thai in the Upper East Side neighborhood of New York City, was heavily controlled. First, Google put on a presentation showing the overall process of making and ending a call, but actually using the technology in real-time. An engineer fed Duplex a time and party size we suggested for a booking, and here’s what followed.
The idea is you’d tell Google Assistant on your phone or Google Home that you want to “book a table at Thep Thai for two at 8 p.m. tomorrow.” Assistant will ask if it’s okay to book a time from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. in case there’s no table available at 8 p.m., and after you confirm, it will say it’s going to call the restaurant and will get back to you soon.
When the restaurant employee picks up the phone, Assistant will say the following, or something similar to it: “Hi, I’m calling to make a reservation. I’m Google’s automated booking service so I’ll record the call. Can I book a table for Thursday?”
The call is recorded so that human operators at Google can listen back to the recording, annotate the conversation, and highlight any mistakes Duplex made so it can make the service better.
Getting Duplex to the level where it’s at now started with a lot of manual and human work.
Assistant goes on to respond to each question asked — such as what time the reservation is for, how many people are in the party, and the name for the reservation — and the conversation politely and promptly ends. If it’s asked for information like a user’s email address, the Assistant will say it does not have permission to provide that information.
The person who booked the reservation through Assistant will now get a notification saying that the table has been reserved, and it will automatically be added to Google Calendar. Ahead of the reservation, the user will get a notification and an opportunity to cancel the appointment in case she can no longer make it. Thep Thai’s restaurant owner said a lot of people make reservations and then don’t show up. He’s hopeful this system, which offers an easy way to cancel a booking, will mean fewer empty tables.
After the main demo Google allowed us to try it. When we took the call, we tried to trip Duplex up and threw in some complications, but Assistant handled them well. We asked it to hold at the beginning of the conversation — to which it responded “mhmm,” rather than a verbal “yes.” When we told it the 6 p.m. booking time was full up, Assistant responded with a range between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., and it settled for our 7:45 p.m. recommendation. We then asked for a name and phone number for the reservation, and if Assistant could spell the name, which it did successfully.
Google Duplex scheduling a restaurant reservation Google
It’s impressive how consistently well Assistant handled its demos, though we did encounter a moment when it needed to fall back on a human operator. It was when someone asked if the Assistant’s client was okay with receiving emails from the restaurant. The phrasing was a little awkward, and the Assistant responded with, “I’m sorry, I think I got confused,” and it said it’s putting a supervisor on the line. The human operator swiftly took over, told the caller it can’t reveal the email address, and finished booking the reservation.
How Duplex works
Early test versions of Duplex, which Google played for us, sounded incredibly robotic. However, the Assistant was still able to understand pauses in the conversation, and even say, “hello?” when a restaurant employee paused for a few seconds. Still, Scott Huffman, vice president of Engineering for Google Assistant, said it was “painful to listen to it.”
If the system really doesn’t know what to do next, it will gracefully bow out of the call, and a human operator will take over.
Getting Duplex to the level where it’s at now started with a lot of manual and human work. Human operators placed calls to restaurants, annotated conversations, and fed the results into Duplex. The team would link phrases like “how many people” and its variations to “number of people in the party,” allowing Duplex to understand the question.
The second stage involved human operators listening to calls the Assistant made, and if things go off track, the operator jumped in to take over and make sure the call is successful. This allowed the team to identify the rough edges around the service, annotate those conversations, and feed it back into the machine-learning algorithms so that Duplex could learn.
The final testing stage is automated mode, where the automated system places calls and completes them. Escape hatches built into the system allow the Assistant to jump back to the key goal of completing the task, thanks to sentences like, “I’m not sure what you said, but can I book a table for three.” If the system really doesn’t know what to do next, it will gracefully bow out of the conversation, and the human operator will take over.
At the moment, Huffman said about four out of five calls made by Duplex do not need the assistance of a human operator. Interestingly, he said human operators aren’t going to be pulled away from the service as Duplex gets better, as Google sees them as an integral part in ensuring Duplex works without a hitch.
The “ums” and “ahs”
Throughout the process of teaching Assistant, Google placed an emphasis on making it sound more natural, and less like a robot. After the demo at Google I/O, critics asked why Google is trying to mix in “ums and ahs” to make the Assistant sound more human, especially if it didn’t add a disclaimer to the beginning of the call that it wasn’t a human. There are disclaimers now, but Huffman said speech disfluencies like “um” or “mhm” were added to keep the flow of conversation going.
Assistant added an “um” after it couldn’t hear what the restaurant employee said, and followed up with its request again.
“We’re not trying to trick or impersonate, but if you go back to that recording of that painful early system, it didn’t sound very natural, it didn’t sound very human,” Huffman said. “But as a result of that, the Assistant was not very successful at completing the tasks. A lot of people would hang up, or get confused about what they were talking to, the conversation would just break down because it didn’t feel natural.”
Huffman said speech disfluencies, according to linguists, are a key part of keeping human conversation between two people going. It’s easy to see how well this works when hearing conversations with the Assistant, and the results are far from the original recording.
One way speech disfluencies help is for conversational acknowledgement, such as when one person is talking, but you want to make sure the receiver know you’re still engaged and listening, like when Assistant said “mhmm” to us when it was asked to hold.
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Another useful tool is saying ”um” when there’s uncertainty, as a polite way of asking for clarification. Assistant added an “um” after it couldn’t hear what the restaurant employee said, and followed up with its request again.
Assistant with these speech disfluencies is a stark contrast over the original, robotic Assistant. It’s far less cold, and the conversation moved much more quickly. And rather than accepting simple commands, Assistant is actually interacting with humans through our language, which is sure to excite some while frightening others.
Convenience
Duplex is all about convenience. It saves you a little time, it can give you more accurate store hours, and it can save businesses time as well. Google also said there’s a big opportunity here to help people who can’t speak or have trouble speaking.
Huffman said to think of Duplex as an evolution of automated voice machines from the past, such as when calling your bank, when it was a slow process of pressing numbers to get to the right department.
“Today if you call those airlines or banks, you’ll get something much, much nicer,” he said. “You’ll hear a much more natural sounding voice, and it might say something like, ‘Just tell me what you need, you can say things like, what time is my flight?’ In Duplex, we’re really just taking that same idea a step further, evolving the conversation and making it more natural so that it’s more successful for users and businesses.”
From what we’ve seen so far, it’s promising technology, but is it something we should embrace, or fear?
Google hasn’t shown us how Duplex makes calls to businesses for store hours, nor has it demoed scheduling haircut appointments — so we can’t comment on how well Duplex would work in these instances. We also are unsure if the human operators will have access to your phone number and full name, as that poses a bit of a privacy risk. We also wonder if Duplex would support multiple languages in the future. We’ve reached out to Google to verify some unanswered questions, but of course, there are sure to be more as the technology progresses.
From what we’ve seen so far, it’s promising technology, but is it something we should embrace, or fear? We’ll be happy if we never have to be put on hold for hours on end again, but it’s important to consider the trajectory here. We’re constantly inching towards a future where we do not need to talk to anyone, where you can live isolated in an apartment, with food delivered to you. packages dropped off by drones, and thousands of hours of media to consume without ever having to step outside.
While Duplex may start with some of the more mundane phone calls, the AI is going to get better at conversations, making it easy to port to other industries. It will be up to us as a society to decide how much of our talking should be done through AI, and whether it’s worth picking the phone up again.
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